On the Road to Stalingrad: Memoirs of a Woman Machine Gunner [Paperback]

Zoya Matveyevna Smirnova-Medvedeva (Author), Kazimiera J. Cottam (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 1997

This is a book about a young girl who volunteered to serve in the famous 25th Chapayev Division and became a machine gunner. She was inspired by another girl machine gunner to keep a diary and tell the story of her comrades-in-arms. This book, which mainly describes the war in the trenches on the Eastern Front, is being used as a textbook in American universities and colleges. The editor/translator of this book has taught Russian History at the University of Ottawa and worked for the Canadian Department of National Defense. She is a recipient of the 1999 Mary Zirin Prize awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies (affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The genuine value of these books and the interest they are bound to generate among specialists and general readers alike argue for their wider dissemination. The books should be made available to the wider audience they so richly deserve." -- David M. Glantz, Editor, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, in a review essay scheduled for publication in March 1999

Another brilliant look inside the life of a true Russian hero who happens to be female. Nearly one million women served in the Soviet Armed Forces during World War II and many were active combatants. The author fought with the famous 25th Chapayev Division, and provides us with an honest eyewitness account of the desperate fighting for Odessa and Sevastopol. Another wonderful offering from New Military Publishing. -- Leslie Blanchard, Editor, A Writer's Choice Literary Journal, April 1999

Cottam succeeded in collecting, translating, and editing unprecedented amounts of documentary evidence detailing the scope and importance of the participation of Soviet women in the war. Taken together, the four volumes capture the breadth and depth of the role of Soviet women in the war effort... The genuine value of these books and the interest they are bound to generate among specialists and general readers alike argue for their wider dissemination. The books should be made available to the wider audience they so richly deserve. (David M. Glantz, Editor, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, March 1999. (Colonel Glantz is founder and former director of the U.S. Army's Foreign Military Studies Office.)) -- David M. Glantz, Editor, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

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Product Details

• Paperback: 131 pages
• Publisher: New Military Pub; 2 edition (November 18, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968270204
• ISBN-13: 978-0968270202
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,216,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memories from a forgotten front, June 9, 2001

By 

Signorelli Luca (Turin, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Road to Stalingrad: Memoirs of a Woman Machine Gunner (Paperback)

You may be in for a surprise: not only Zoya Smirnova-Medvedeva (whose memories as a 19 years old volunteer with the 24th "Chapayev" Division of the Red Army details her involvement in the ultimately tragic defence of Odessa and Sevastopol in 1941 and 1942) didn't kill many Germans in her wartime career, but she spent much of the war - before being demobilised in 1944 after receiving a disabling wound - doing what most soldiers do: trying to save her own life while doing her own duty.

It's interesting to note how the most sincere memories of the Eastern Front (see for instance "In Deadly Combat", a superb German account of the life on the Baltic Front) tends, after all, to make WWII look like WWI. No dashing armoured assaults, no shining new technology: but trenches, long and tiresome marches, endless artillery and aerial strikes, hunger, cold and weariness. In Zoya's case you should add a not-so-subtle tendency of her comrades to be alternatively suspicious or patronising about her warlike qualities, and the difficulties of being a woman forced on a uneasy cohabitation with a lot of male recruits, fighting a defensive battle in definitely-not-triumphant phase of the war. Zoya tends (of course) to downplay the relation problem and emphasise the comradeship, but reading between the lines something becomes evident.

It may sound as downright depressing but, while "On The Road To Stalingrad" (another entry in the outstanding series of Russian wartime women memories edited by professor KJ Cottam) is at times truly grim , especially when dealing with the loss of human life so matter-of-factly, it's still a great reading, tempered by a detached, objective attitude and the usual Russian fatalistic humour. You really get the impression that Zoya's comrades are the same Russian soldier of Tolstoy's books- down to earth, rugged people with few illusion but an unlimited faith in friendship as a mean to survive every calamity.

As often happens in Soviet-era war literature, some truth become plain to the attentive reader: for instance, that the relationship between the Red Army and the population were (at least in 1942) less idyllic than what the official histories would make us believe. Also, bits on the occasional incompetence and simple cowardice on the Soviet sides are often hinted (even if balanced by many narratives of Soviet heroics, of course). And no, the Germans in this book aren't your average dupes. The biggest surprise (if you're not familiar with this type of literature) may come from "politics" department. Not only you'll not get much the tirades so often hammered on the reader's throat in the Soviet general's memories, but you'll hardly find any straightforward "political" note at all - except from the token patriotic bit on the defence of the Motherland against the invaders. My theory is that in the 60's (when most of these type of text was written) it had become much safer to avoid completely the topic rather than deal with it in the wrong way. Even so, the effect is, in my view, a bit unrealitic: even if is probable that Communism wasn't so popular among Red Army soldiers, the 40's weren't the 90's, and it's more likely that a percentage of the Red Army personnel had some kind of strong belief on the Soviet system. Otherwise, you'll get the same surreal feeling of those German war memories where everyone is politically agnostic or even anti-nazi, and you end up not understanding how Hitler got elected in first instance. Is "On The Road To Stalingrad" realistic? Yes, if you take in account the age when was written. It's a literary masterpiece? No, but rarely a war memory is a conventionally "good" reading. And as a document to a woman's view on a topical (although still badly documented) XX century event, "On The Road To Stalingrad" is a must read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the Road to Stalingrad:Memoirs of a Woman Machine Gunner, June 7, 2001

By 

Sasha Pursley (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Road to Stalingrad: Memoirs of a Woman Machine Gunner (Paperback)

This book provides a fascinating account of the wartime experiences of a female member of the Chapayev regiment. The translation is excellent. It gives a fascinating glimpse into the heroic effort of Soviet women who fought at the front. This book is an absolute treasure! I highly recommend it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much Better Than the Title, December 8, 2001

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Dennis in Houston (Texas, United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: On the Road to Stalingrad: Memoirs of a Woman Machine Gunner (Paperback)

This is a well written account of actions in WWII. It is not just a 'gimick' of a story because the author was a woman. Man or woman, this book rates up there with all other good first person experiences in WWII. The story of the entrapment behind German lines of her team, and their methods of escape, is as intriquing as any mystery or adventure book. Buy this one if you like war stories, WWII, or want to learn more about the Russian/German battles.